Automotive vehicles, such as pickup trucks, are commonly employed with a cargo box or bed that may be used to transport various items. The vehicle cargo box typically has a tailgate which generally extends between the rear lateral walls and pivots about a hinge assembly near a lower edge of the tailgate between an upright vertical closed position and a downward horizontal open position. In the downward open position, cargo may be easily loaded into and unloaded from the cargo box and the tailgate may be pivoted closed to the vertical upward position to retain the cargo within the cargo box.
Some pickup trucks are increasingly employing elongated tailgate assemblies which provide an elevated wall height with increased depth of the cargo box that makes it more difficult to easily reach into the cargo box, without opening the tailgate. Additionally, with the tailgate open, it can still be difficult to reach cargo located forward in the box. In order to load many items into the cargo box, users are generally required to open the entire tailgate prior to loading and to close the tailgate after loading. It is desirable to provide for alternative ways of allowing users to easily access the cargo box without always having to open and close the entire tailgate.